Arizona’s Legislative Process In a little over two weeks, on January 12, the 2015 Arizona Legislative Session will begin. The following is a brief overview of the legislative process, along with your role in helping good legislation become law. Every session, AzCDL brings proposed laws to legislators willing to sponsor them. Once a bill is formally filed, AzCDL’s lobbyists work with legislators in both “chambers” (House and Senate) to get co-sponsors. Generally, the greater the number of co-sponsors, the greater the likelihood the bill will succeed. Once a bill is filed, it is “read” by the full chamber before being assigned to one or more committees. Over a thousand bills are introduced every session, and some may not receive committee assignments. Only those assigned to a committee may proceed. Bills must be heard by, and pass out of, their assigned committees to progress further. The committee chair determines if a bill will get a hearing. If a bill does not get heard before the session deadline, or does not pass out of committee, it cannot proceed. Once a bill passes out of its committees, it must survive a Committee of the Whole (COW) hearing, where all the legislators in the chamber can debate the merits of the legislation, offer amendments and decide its fate. Bills passing a COW vote (typically an unrecorded voice vote) must then survive a formal, recorded vote of the entire chamber known as a “Third Read”. If the bill passes the Third Read vote by a majority of the body (16 votes in the Senate, 31 in the House, regardless of the actual number of legislators in attendance), it can proceed. This is only half the battle. Once a bill passes out of the originating chamber (e.g., House) it is sent to the other chamber (e.g., Senate) where the entire process is repeated. Bills making it through both chambers unchanged are sent to the Governor. Amended bills must undergo a reconciliation process by both chambers before going to the Governor. AzCDL lobbyists work daily at the Capitol to monitor legislation, testify at hearings, promote bills we support and call attention to bills we oppose. However, it is your participation that has the biggest impact on the fate of legislation. Pressure from you can help the Legislature’s Leadership “remember” to assign a bill to a committee; remind a committee chair to “remember” to schedule a hearing; get committee members to realize that there is tremendous grassroots support for a bill; and enable your legislators and the Governor to understand that you want them to support a bill. We cannot emphasize enough the importance and impact of your emails. It is because AzCDL members took the time to contact committee members, legislators and the Governor that Constitutional Carry is now the law in Arizona. AzCDL’s Legislative Action Center is our tool for you to make a difference during the upcoming legislative session. We make it easy with targeted, pre-written email messages for you to send with just a few mouse clicks. Warm up your keyboards and stay tuned! These alerts are a project of the Arizona Citizens Defense League (AzCDL), an all-volunteer, non-profit, non-partisan grassroots organization. AzCDL – Protecting Your Freedom . Copyright © 2014 Arizona Citizens Defense League, Inc., all rights reserved
Posted on: Sat, 27 Dec 2014 18:14:26 +0000
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